Safety attachment for elevators



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

W. J. WHITE.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

No. 486,518. Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

W. J. WHITE. SAFETY ATTAGHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

No. 486,518. Patented NOV. 22, 1892;

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OEQW W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. WHITE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,518, dated November22, 1892.

Application filed October 21, 1891.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. WHITE, acitizen-of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety AttachmentsforElevators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of devices for securing the gates ordoors of elevators in their open and closed positions which are releasedautomatically upon the ascent or descent of the elevator carriage; andits object is to provide a simplified form of such devices.

To this end the invention consists in the construction hereinafterdescribed, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the frontframework of the elevator-shaft with my improvements attached andshowing the gate down and locked and the elevator-carriage approachingfrom below, only a portion of the upper part of the gate being shown.Fig. 2 is a similar View of the framework with the carriage moved upwardpast the lower lever and in engagement with the door and showing thedoor raised and held in raised position by my improved mechanism. Fig. 3is a View showing the carriage raised into contact with the upperleverand showing the door released from said lever and down in its loweredand locked position. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the door-lockingmechanism and showing the lock engaged with a section of the door. Fig.5 is a view of the same parts as shown in Fig. 4 with the lock out ofengagement with the door.

In the drawings,A represents the carriage, B the framework of theelevator-shaft, O a floor or landing, and D the gate or door. I lay noclaim whatever to invention in any of these parts in themselves, andthey are illustrated here simply to show the relation, use, andoperation of my improvements in connection therewith. My devices aredesigned to release the elevator gate or door by means of the carriageimmediately upon the carriage leaving a landing, whether it travel up orserial No. 409.362. (No model.)

down, to the end that accidents from open gates may be prevented. Inthis instance the attachment is shown as applied to a gate or door whichslides up and down in its bearings or guideways and which iscounterweighted so that while the weight of the door exceeds thecounter-weight the door will not close abruptly or with a violent jarwhen it is allowed to drop into closing position. Assuming, therefore,that the door is closed, when the carriage arrives at a landing theoperator raises the door by hand to the open position say as seen inFig. 2and the supporting-lever E drops automatically beneath the dooragainst the framework, serving then as a sup port for the door andpreventing the door from dropping while the lever remainsin thatposition. This lever, as here shown, has a pivoted upper section a and alower section or portion 6, rigid with its spindle, and is fastened ator near its center upon a spindle c and the spindle is held by asuitable hearing f, fixed permanently to one of the front corner-piecesof the framework of the elevator-well. By this construction andarrangement the lever E can be brought into such position that thepivoted extremity 6 will drop automatically beneath the door when thedoor is raised, as shown in Fig. 2. Now in order that the movement ofthe said lever may be eifected automatically by the elevator-carriageand without thought or attention from the elevator-man I have soconstructed and arranged the said lever E, with respect to the carriageand the gate that when the lever is in supporting position, as in Fig.the lower portion 6 thereof will lie into the pathway of the carriage.Then in order to make the carriage do the work of withdrawing said leverfrom beneath the door, as described, I attach a shoe H to the frontcorner of the carriage corresponding to the corner of the shaft havingthe lever. This shoe has a smooth bearing-surface and is curved back atits ends, so as to make easy engagement with the lever E whichever waythe carriage travels. The lever is shown here as having anantifriction-roller to make the contact with the shoe an easy one. Whenthe shoe has made engagement with said lever, whether the carriage beascending or descending, the parts are in the position substantially asshown in Fig. 3, and the lever is forced from beneath the gate to anearly-vertical position. When this occurs, the door or gate is releasedand it immediately falls to closed position by its own gravity, as seenin Fig. 3. If, however, the carriage descends after it has made alanding and the door is open, the shoe I-l being below the lever E, itcannot operate directly thereon. Hence I have provided a second lever K,which is secured to the post 13 just below the plane of thecorresponding landing C, and has on the opposite end of its spindle anadjustable arm I, connected by a rod L with a similar arm e on thespindle of lever E. The arms l and e are rotatable on their spindles, soas to give them the proper adjustment with respect to the levers E andK, and are held in their adjusted position by set-screws 6 passingthrough the hubs of the arms and engaging the spindles. It follows whenthe cage descends that it will strike lever K as it did lever E, throughits shoe or equivalent construction, and thus operate said lever Ethrough rod L and release the door or gate the same as if it moved thelever E itself. The upper lever therefore serves the purpose, throughthe action of shoe H, of releasing the gate when the cage ascends, andthe lower lever serves the same purpose when the cage descends. The dooror gate D has a notch or its equivalent d, adapted to be engaged by alocking bolt or catch at, connected with a lever N, pivoted in positionto be moved by shoe H very much as levers E and K are moved. The door Dis beveled or rounded on its lower edge, so that when it descends itwill force bolt 11 back out of the way and leave said bolt free toengage a notch d and hold the door closed. The operator has nothing todo with this catch or look nor with the closing of the door, both ofwhich work automatically. The arm N of the lock is weighted at top, soas to drop outward by gravity as soon as the arm is free from the shoe.WVhen the lever E is beneath the gate in supporting position, its upperend rests against the door-casing, so that it cannot swing in past thatpoint. Each landing is provided with these safety devices. In lieu ofthe separate plate forming the shoe H the elevator-carriage may be builtwith a bearingsurface corresponding to the shoe, and the shoe may beregarded practically as forming a part of the carriage. A chain orflexible connection might be made between the arms E and K; but this isnot deemed desirable as a rod connection.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In elevators, the gate, means secured to the shaft or way for holdingthe gate in its open position and to be engaged by a part or shoe on theelevator-carriage, another device upon the shaft or way connected withsaid means for operating the same, and said part or shoe 011 theelevator-carriage adapted to engage said means and device, respectively,to release the gate upon the ascent or descent of the carriage,substantially as shown and described.

2. In elevators, the gate, a lever pivoted to the shaft or way andadapted to hold the gate in its open position,anotherleveralso securedto the shaft or way, means connecting said levers, so that the operationof the last-mentioned will release the first-mentioned lever, and a partor shoe on the elevator-carriage adapted to engage the levers,respectively, to release the gate upon the ascent or descent of thecarriage, substantially as shown and described.

3. In elevators, the gate, means secured to the shaft or way for holdingthe gate in its open position and adapted to be engaged by a part orshoe on the elevator, another device on the shaft or way connected withsaid means for operating the same, alatch for locking the gate in itsclosed position, and said part or shoe on the carriage adapted torelease the latch and also to engage said means and device,respectively, to release the gate upon the ascent or descent of thecarriage, substantially as shown and described.

Witness my hand to the foregoing specification.

WILLIAM J. WHITE.

Witnesses:

II. T. FISHER, R. B. MOSER.

